Contemporary automobiles have both headlights and parking lights. It is desirable or necessary that the parking lights be capable of being turned on independently of the headlights, but that the parking lights be turned on whenever the headlights are turned on. Having the parking lights turned on along with the headlamps is a safety feature in that it provides a more positive visual indication of the location of an automobile in the dark, particularly in a case when a headlamp is burned out.
Prior art switches and circuits for providing independent turning on of parking lights and conjoint illumination of headlamps and parking lights have been too complicated, or unreliable, or too expensive.